People with lived experience and advocates that work in the mental health world are well-versed in the idea of recovery. We know that a mental health challenge is not a debilitating lifetime sentence, and that by focusing on strengths and wellness, people with mental health conditions can live fulfilling lives and contribute to society.

The question remains, does the general public, beyond the mental health community, understand the power and value of the recovery model? With changes to the system driven by healthcare reform ongoing, and mental health on the Congressional agenda, this is a critical moment to examine that question. In our latest Focus, CAFE TAC looks at how recovery is moving into the public policy and the treatment community, and how advocates are working to make certain that community-based, patient-centered recovery is central to efforts at systemic reform. Check it out here!

And to hear personal stories of recovery, check out the videos in our Recovery Stories series.

For students with mental health issues, it can be a struggle to succeed in higher education. While all students have to deal with academic pressure and adjust to independent living, those with mental health needs must manage additional challenges related to their their health and wellness. This can be difficult to do. In fact 86% of students with mental health needs drop out.

One way that colleges and universities can reverse this trend, and help students to stay in school and graduate, is by adopting a “supported education” model. The practice of supported education entails the creation of a network of campus resources that work together to offer services and develop accommodations that are tailored to individual students’ needs.

The CAFE TA Center visited the University of Utah in the fall of 2014 to see how their supported education program functions. By speaking with professionals, faculty and the students they serve, we were able to gain a sense of how a quality program creates a culture of responsiveness and empowerment to help students succeed.

Recent surveys have determined that up to a quarter of American workers have experienced depression at some point, and nearly two-thirds have dealt with some kind of difficulty resulting from their mental health. Despite the prevalence of this issue, many employers fail to deal with it directly. Policies and procedures regarding workplace mental health are lacking, and managers are not trained in how to deal with their employees’ issues.

For students with mental health needs, the transition to campus life can be a major challenge. Students must adjust to living independently, take on new academic work and also manage their health and wellness. Despite the fact that most colleges and universities have some kind of support in place, an unacceptably large proportion of students with mental health needs still end up leaving campus.

Like any organization, from the largest corporation to the smallest grassroots advocacy group, our nation’s lead agency for behavioral health, SAMHSA, has a strategic plan to guide it. After more than 1,400 public comments and months of refinement, the latest version of that plan, Leading Change 2.0: Advancing the Behavioral Health of the Nation 2015-2018 has been released.

In the latest Focus newsletter, CAFE TAC takes a look under the hood of this new guiding vision for our country’s approach to behavioral health. Find out what the common themes from those who commented to SAMHSA were, and what priorities made it into the final version. This is the document that will set the course for the lead behavioral health agency for years to come, and likely influence the evolution of behavioral health care nationwide, so it’s essential for everyone in the behavioral health community to know what
it includes! Check out the new Focus here.